Mr. Joe sat on Athena’s back, looking thoughtful as he wondered why he had been brought to Apple Town.
But then, he spotted Richard.
"Boss!"
He quickly dismounted the horse and greeted Richard cheerfully.
Even though he wasn’t sure of Richard’s purpose, he still had to act respectfully toward him.
"Boss, is there something you need?" he asked Richard in a rather quiet voice.
"Follow me!"
Richard said only that before turning back into Apple Town, leaving Athena outside the city.
Of course, Mr. Joe followed, growing even more curious since Richard offered him no explanation.
Richard occasionally glanced at the old man, somewhat curious about what would happen to him after entering the secret place.
Would this be a turning point in his fate?
Naturally, what intrigued Richard the most was what he himself would gain.
What if he was merely considered a guide for a descendant of the Dragon Knight Clan to the secret place and only received a minor reward?
That would be troublesome.
Even filled with doubts, he would still go inside.
At worst, he would simply squeeze Mr. Joe for compensation.
After walking for a while, they arrived at a quiet garden. Richard handed Mr. Joe a cloak and a piece of cloth.
"Put this on and cover your face," he instructed.
Mr. Joe gave a wry smile at the command, doubt plain in his expression.
"This is a good thing for you. Don’t you want to inherit the legacy of your ancestor?" Richard said.
"What, my ancestor?" Mr. Joe was utterly shocked at those words.
"Just follow me, you’ll understand soon enough. I may have tricked you, but I have no reason to lie about this," Richard replied.
He then donned his Phantom Cloak once again, altering his body’s size—but in a different form from before.
This time, he appeared as a short, stout man.
Mr. Joe could only freeze when he witnessed the transformation.
"Remember, don’t speak unless I tell you to, and make sure you stay close to me," Richard said before continuing forward.
At the very least, Mr. Joe grasped the gravity of the situation. He nodded lightly and followed at Richard’s side, matching his pace.
Since Richard was with Mr. Joe, he didn’t run, so it took them longer to reach the location of the secret place.
After the Olivia incident, the number of people gathering had only increased.
Some appeared to be adventurers from outside who had come after hearing the noise, but they had arrived late since they weren’t in Apple Town when it happened.
Richard wasn’t the only one wearing a Phantom Cloak, but it seemed that anyone clad in one was carefully observed by the others.
He stopped about a hundred meters away from the dragon’s head, choosing not to get too close.
Some, unable to resist their greed, tried entering the dragon’s mouth—only to be forcefully repelled, just as Richard had been before.
Richard’s eyes never stopped observing, especially the powerful Magi like the city lord or the Headmaster of Apple Town Academy.
Gray and Laura were nowhere in sight. It seemed they had left again, while the city lord and headmaster showed no urgency to depart after returning to witness the proof.
’Well, forget it. I don’t need to bother with them,’ he thought, stepping forward and signaling Mr. Joe to follow.
He acted like someone else too curious to resist attempting entry into the dragon’s mouth.
But when they were close enough, he suddenly grabbed Mr. Joe’s hand.
Whoosh!
He burst forth at full speed, dragging the old man along, even knocking aside some weaker Magi in his path.
"What is he doing?" people exclaimed in surprise, but their eyes soon widened in shock.
The light from the dragon’s mouth didn’t block him at all.
He and the cloaked figure he carried passed through it, vanishing inside.
"Damn, that’s the same man as before. His Phantom Cloak is clearly of a higher tier—it can even alter his body’s form," someone said.
"Then the person he brought must be a descendant of the Dragon Knight Clan? Incredible. To think there really is a relative of the Dragon Knight in our Apple Town."
"Could it be the Dragon Knight came from this region?"
"Who knows."
"... "
Meanwhile, Richard, who had entered the dragon’s mouth, found himself inside an enormous hall of extraordinary luxury. He could only stand in awe.
The hall stretched forward, lined with colossal guardian statues along each wall.
They were so tall that Richard’s mind went blank as he tried estimating their height.
Not tens or hundreds of meters—he concluded they stood over a kilometer tall.
They even wore real armor and wielded authentic swords or spears.
The front wall was even more astonishing: a fierce black dragon statue glared with bulging eyes and an open mouth, guarding the golden throne beneath it.
Richard narrowed his eyes at the dragon statue, drawn to the object in its maw—a floating black heart, or rather, one suspended by a faint surrounding light. Updates are released by NoveIꜰire.net
It seemed to beat endlessly.
’Is that the Heart of the Black-Hearted Soul?’ he wondered, his expression strange, for he thought his own heart resembled it.
"What is this place?" Mr. Joe, standing beside Richard, was so captivated that he rubbed his eyes again and again, trying to be sure he wasn’t hallucinating.
As Richard glanced at him, he suddenly heard a cracking sound from behind.
"Mm..." He was startled again, spotting a figure that looked like a man made of wood—so old he needed a staff to support his hunched body.
His mouth trembled as he struggled to open it.
"Re-relative of the ma-master, you’ve fi-finally come," he said, his voice so frail it seemed he could barely speak.
Even so, his eyes never blinked as they fixed on Mr. Joe, filled with joy.
"Wel-welcome to the Dragon Hall, relative of the master," he added, his words gradually becoming clearer.
"Who are you?" Mr. Joe asked.
"I-I am merely the s-servant of your ancestor, fortunate enough to be granted the chance to l-live longer so I could pass down your ancestor’s Blood Essence to you, so that you may gain great talent like him. You will also be given this Dragon Hall, which shall serve as your safe home." The wooden man answered, his voice steadier now, though still breathless.
"What?" Mr. Joe could hardly believe what he was hearing.
"Who is my ancestor?" he asked again.
"The Dragon Knight," the wooden man replied, nearly making Mr. Joe jump.
"I... I’m truly a relative of the Dragon Knight?" he stammered, his mouth agape.
It wasn’t as though he didn’t know the rumor—it had always existed in his family.
Mr. Joe had believed it, but only as a way to console himself.
Now, standing in this hall and hearing it confirmed by a strange being, he finally became convinced.
"Si-sir, please follow me," the wooden man said before stepping toward a side door that seemed to lead to a special chamber.
Mr. Joe hesitated, not daring to follow immediately. He looked to Richard first.
But Richard gestured for him to go ahead and follow the wooden man.
The Dragon Knight’s Blood Essence? Why should he care if it went to Mr. Joe? After all, his own talent far surpassed that of the Dragon Knight.
What interested him was the Dragon Hall itself—and that Black Heart.
There might be other treasures hidden here, but he could search for them later, once he had seized control of this Dragon Hall.
This was clearly a Hidden World, not just an underground chamber guarded by magic formations. It was a rare artifact that could only be created by a Magus who had attained World Magic Aether.